Annual Fire Hazard Returns to State Capitol

I was at the capitol this morning attending to a little business, and I was again distressed to see that the trees are back in the capitol building. I don't know how or when the tradition started, but the trees have been in Pierre since at least the Janklow administration. I remember Dottie Howe being in charge of the project in the 80's; and she may well have been in charge of it longer than that. My youth recalls a tastful display of maybe twenty trees with a large tree in the center. I even remember going up to the capitol to see them, and actually thinking that they were a beautiful addition to our statehouse.

But my how times have changed. The 70 and 80's saw a decrepit capitol refurbished to the tune of several million dollars, bringing it's natural beauty out in time for the 1989 SD Centennial. After restoration was complete the capitol was appraised at a value of over 100 million dollars; an amount which has almost certainly increased. But even if the state had that kind of money, the building could never be replaced as it stands. Much of the woodwork in the Senate and House chambers is of African Mahogany, a tree which has since become extinct. Pillars in the rotunda are made of scagliola, a process which has been described to me as an almost lost art. Not to mention the amount of original artwork in the building whose artists have passed away many generations ago.

And the trees have changed as well. Instead of a tasteful display, it seems that every organization or group in the state is represented; the display has engulfed not just one, but three floors. Every corner of the building which looks as if it can hold a tree, now holds two. And the first thing that greets the eyes when entering the rotunda is a sign which says "Fire Extinguishers provided by Smith's fire extinguishers." You see despite all it's ammenities, there is one thing the capitol doesn't have, and that is a fire supression system; at least not one capable of extinguishing a forest fire. And a forest fire is essentially what we would have if one of these tree would go up. Because even though they are beautiful on the outsite with flocking and electric light, on the inside these trees are dry and brittle and extremely flammable.

I wonder what the state would say if one began to stack piles of kindling around the capitol and decorate them with gasoline and matchstick. Because this, in my opinion. is what we do every year at Christmas time. I am a little dissappointed that our government feels that this is an appropriate risk to take with our state history. I can't imagine that any insurance policy would cover the loss of this landmark due to such negligence. I don't know what the solution is, but there must be a better one than the current plan.

You may think I am a scrooge, but I am a scrooge who cares more about over 100 years of history, than he does about a pile of tinsel and pine needles.

Rusty

Who will be the new ED of the Republican Party?

No word from the Republican Party on what will be happening with staff at the HQ, but I would say the fact that current ED Max Wetz is preparing to sell his house is a (welcome) sign that he is not planning to stay in Pierre much longer. So as Mr. and Mrs. Wetz prepare to leave our fine city, I have to ask, "Who will be the next person to sit in the director's chair ?"

Hopefully the party will take it's time choosing a successor; because the current hiring policy has produced results such as passing on several well qualified candidates to hire Max Wetz, hiring Jewall Breard with absolutely no other candidates being considered, and hiring an entire staff that felt no need in the toughest election cycle in a generation to work one minute past five o'clock.

This is re-boot time for the party. They did it with James Bond and look how well it turned out. I say fire everybody and start fresh. Get a little old lady to answer the phones and get the mail. See if you can get a sample of Jason Glodt's DNA for cloning. Then, if that fails, solicit resumes from across the state. We have some great people in South Dakota that would be awesome at this job. Take a look at ten or twenty of them, no hurry. We know what happens when we hurry! (see above) And then after careful consideration hire the best candidate for the job. 2010 is a big year, we can't afford to have another third rate ED (I know, I'm being generous.)

I and many other Republicans will be sitting on the edge of our seats awaiting a decision. Please don't let us down.

Rusty

New 3rd Party Candidate from South Dakota threatens to steal votes from John Mcain!

A new third party candidate has appeared on the scene and threatens to steal votes from John McCain in several key demographics. Check out this news report on Buzzard Gulch, SD resident Joad Cressbeckler. Is there trouble in store for McCain?

Rusty

The Tim Johnson/Steve Jarding Cartoon Battle Royale!

I saw a post at the Dakota War College showing that PP and l3wis at South DaCola were discussing PP's cartooning ability and his politics. PP's cartoon inspired me to put a thought that I have had rolling around in my head (involving the ultimate puppetmaster) on virtual paper. I have to give them both their propers, as it is hard as hell to make a digital cartoon. Here it is:


I suppose it is still better to do it his way, as it would be hard to represent Cartman as a stick figure; and that is the extent of my artistic ability on paper.

So, let me know what you think!

Rusty

You've got to keep it on the down low!

I have been reading PP's rants about the South Dakota Conservative Action Council, today particularly focusing on the propaganda arm of the organization. Upon reading a few points in the article, some of the gears in my head started to turn. You see, I started getting propaganda emails from the SDCAC shortly after their doors opened; and I have never assigned any importance to them. I tend to see them in my email box, open them, curse about their spaminess, and then delete them.

But here is the thing, I never get junk spam emails in this particular account. I have kept this account off of the radar screen of all but the most trusted senders. I don't get emails at this account offering to boost the size of my whatsits or to provide my wife with more pleasure in her hoo-hah. I have never had an offer to consolidate my debt, see my credit score or have an exciting vacation to a tropical destination. I have never even recieved an email from my own mother at this account. In fact the only real email I have ever recieved at this account is from the South Dakota Republican Party and it's candidates and auxilleries.

So my conclusion is that #1. The SDCAC alledgedly bought or recieved my email address from the state party or someone affiliated with it. Or #2. I am a completely insane, crackpot, conspiracy theorist. And considering the fact that I write a blog, I would say the chances are about 40/60.

SO my question is, "Has anyone else had a similar expierience with an email address from the SDCAC?" Drop me a line and let me know.

The lights are ON and somebody is home!

The news broke a few weeks ago that Jason Glodt was back on the staff at the Republican Party in Pierre, and he is back to his old winning ways. A cruise by Republican HQ last night showed that Glodt was deeply entrenched in his office; no doubt plotting his strategy for Republican Victory. Old Rusty was heading to the Legion for a nightcap when I spotted him, and this was at 11:00PM. Glodt has picked the party up on his back, and is attempting to carry us on to our previous highs, last reached when Jason was the Executive Director.

But I think Glodt must be pretty lonely on these long, hot nights, as the rest of the staff at Republican HQ doesn't seem to join him very often. A personal visit or call by the HQ after 5:00PM on most days is met with a locked door or an answering machine. As one of over 100 employees on the 2002 Victory campaign I can tell you that Glodt's hours are a lot more realistic than the rest of the staff's. We made $1500 a month and worked 80+ hour weeks doing the thankless work of preparing for a massive get out the vote effort. We did all that and still lost the election by 524 votes.

I don't know what the current staff's wages are, but I am sure they are all making well over the pittance that Victory staff made in 2002. If Max Wetz is making $50000 a year and working 40 hours a week, he is pulling in about $26 an hour. A 2002 Victory Staffer did 10 times the work in the course of a day and made about $4.50 an hour. My point: WE ARE NOT GETTING OUR MONEY'S WORTH!

When will Chairman Karl Adam and the rest of the leadership at at the party insist on getting an honest days work from the HQ staff? Until I see some kind of action taken, I will be withholding my funds; and I encourage everyone else to do the same. Apparently the only voice that they will listen to will be our checkbooks.

Unfortunately, I am also going to steel myself for the agony of defeat that is on the horizon in November. If I am wrong, Jason Glodt will be the man that we will all have to thank; if I am right, their will be plenty of people around to take the blame.

Gloucester Girls Are Easy!

Firstly I would like to apologize for the short lapse in blogging. I have been computerless for the last week due to some technical difficulties. But, I am back on the net now and ready for business.

I have been watching the news today and saw a press conference with the mayor of Gloucester, Massachusetts talking about the "Pregnancy Pact" scandal that is taking place in that community. As I watch, I don't think that I have seen a better argument against schools and governments providing birth control to students.

Some schools and state health officials are saying that they could have prevented some of these pregnancies if only they had been allowed to provide birth control to students. But I see this as placing the school in jeopardy of liability. If I am 15 and I get a prophylactic from the school nurse and it breaks, resulting in a pregnancy, who is responsible? I did the right thing and got a condom, my parents had no clue (because it was confidential they couldn't be notified) and now my 15 year old girlfriend is knocked up because budget cuts only allowed for generic brand condoms and not the Trojan Jr. Magnums that I needed. The school has provided me with all the tools I needed to get the job done, refused to tell the folks, and now someone has to pay for this kids upbringing.

To make an analogy, if I needed a gun for "protection," and the local gun store owner gave it to me for free, and didn't tell my parents; and then I go out and shoot my best friend, who do you think is responsible. I think we could easily guess that the anti-gun lobby would be after the gun store owner quick, fast, and in a hurry! I also think we agree that sending a 15 year old boy out on the town with a rubber and just enough knowledge on how to use it to be dangerous could give new meaning to the words "loaded gun."

As a tax payer and citizen I look on myself as a shareholder in my government. And as with any company the values of my shares go up or down with the raising or lowering of my taxes. If I owned stock in a public company, and they were going to start giving free samples of their potentially harmful product to unsupervised minors I would be calling my broker telling him to sell, sell, SELL! But I can't sell my stock in my government; in fact every year I have to buy more whether I like it's value or not. I do not want any company that I own a part of to take part in any obviously risky behavior and I demand that my government not engage in these actions as well.

I think that a problem we have as conservatives is that we attack problems like this based on morals and dogma, and not simply from a fiscal standpoint. This gives liberals the opportunity to bring in their emotionally charged opinions as well and we end up with an argument based on feelings and not on facts.

The bottom line is that a school giving condoms to kids without their parent's permission opens the school (i.e. us as taxpayers) to potential liability from families faced with the expense of raising unplanned pregnancies, or worse the treatment for a dangerous STD. If the school in Gloucester did not provide pregnancy tests and stick their nose into the citizen's private business this story would be about 17 stupid teenagers in a small fishing village, but because the government got involved it is now a minor local crisis that government must spend money to solve.

As a side note, do you think there is any coincidence to the fact that Pregnancy Pact has the same initials as PP? Because that guy needs to make some kind of an agreement with someone or he will have to build an addition onto his house. Just kidding Pat!

Rusty